Catholic boys jump the Muslim fence to play

Picture: CRAIG ABRAHAMFrancis Stagg, centre, and Xavier Tong, right, visit students at King Khalid Islamic College in North Coburg yesterday.

As wars raged around the world, cross-cultural peace existed in North Coburg yesterday.

More than 50 grade 6 boys from Xavier College visited King Khalid Islamic College for a harmony workshop with a class of their peers. They talked about harmony, racism, sport, films, rap music, how to pronounce each other's names, and their hopes for the world.

Although the Iraq war wasn't discussed, it was clearly on students' minds, with references such as "love, not fear, leads to peace, not war", and "what goes around comes around".

Yesterday's visit originated 18 months ago in the days after September 11. "Our boys read a newspaper article that said Islamic kids their age were getting racist comments on the tram, and they thought that was unfair," said John Finn, head of Xavier College's Kostka Hall in Brighton.");document.write("

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He called King Khalid College "and they were tremendous. They've been out to visit us twice in the past two years, but this is our first time here."

Many students yesterday wished for tolerance, but the college's harmony day co-ordinator, Rubia Hussain, said acceptance would be a greater achievement. "We're all Australian citizens and we should all accept each other," she said.

Rishada Cassim, 11, from King Khalid, said: "At school we learn about peace and tolerance, and adults sometimes forget those lessons."